Life After
by Vin Diesel Freak 4 Ever
Summary: After the death of her father Grace needs to find a way to move on. She beleaves she found it with her husband and a new town to live in. But soon her marriage and life are faced with challenges that threaten to tear her family apart and ruin her marriage
1. A New Begining

After her father died Grace married her love....A.J. He was her whole world. Two years after the wedding Grace became agitated because she couldn't get away from the news cameras and strange phone calls. So she decided that A.J and her would move away to a small, quaint town where no one could really recognize them. After a quick fight A.J finally agreed to move away with his new wife and settled for whatever job he could find there.  
  
Five months and three days later (not that anyone was counting ) They settled into a small cabin in Westburn California. This ranch community was a great change from the hectic hustle and bustle of Washington.  
  
One night as A.J and Grace lay in bed...." A.J..... how's the job search going? I mean you've been looking for about a month now and....well..." He lifted his head and smiled gently she couldn't help but smile back, " I've been looking but nobody seems to be hiring.... plus you're making plenty of money at the hospital so maybe I could take a break...." Grace sat up " What do you mean a brake? I work 12 hour days only to come home to a filthy home and my husband watching football with his buddies..... why don't I take a break and you go out and find a job!" All the emotions Grace had been holding in just exploded onto her unsuspecting victim. His face went pale as he whimpered like a scolded puppy.  
  
The next morning was a gorgeous June day with not a cloud in the sky and the sounds of children's feet going pitter patter on the pavement outside. Yet in the house there was almost no sounds at all only the soft sound of bacon in the oven and the wonderful aroma of cinnamon buns, eggs, sausage, and fresh baked breads that wafted to A.J as he slowly roused from sleep. Suddenly the bedroom door slowly creaked open and there standing in the door way with an array of homemade goodies and fresh squeezed orange juice was Grace wearing her black slip with her hair thrown carelessly into a loose, messy bun atop her head. She smiled innocently as she placed the tray upon the small dresser next to A.J and sat on the bedside next to him.  
  
"Baby I am so sorry. I didn't mean to explode like that I was ju...." She was quickly hushed as A.J put his finger to her lips to silence her, " It's no big deal. Plus this sure makes up for it." He nodded his head in the direction of the breakfast layout. " Well I was kind of hoping I could make it up to you in a different way..."  
  
She slid next to him and beckoned him to her. He needed no second bidding, as quickly as he could he slid across the bed to her gently caressing her and continually pulling her closer and closer. Soon they were in an embrace that no one could have torn apart. He began to pull on the straps of her slip when suddenly there was a knock at the door.  
  
"Hey.... did you hear that?" Grace asked looking towards the door " No....no I didn't hear a thing" " A.J..... stopit ..... come-on please answer the door.... then get your butt back in here and finish what you started." She smiled sweetly at him and nudged him towards the door. The knocking came again. Grace watched A.J walk to the door and heard him open it.... then suddenly he gasped and started talking in a very hushed voice. " What are you doing here? I told you never come around here..... I have a wife.... what do you want?" Then a strange female voice came through the doorway " I wanted to make sure we're still on for tonight....I mean last time was so crazy." Suddenly Grace's heart stopped as his answer sounded " Of course, same time same place. Now get out of here!" 


	2. A Plane Unfolds

Grace heard the front door shut and the shuffle of A.J's feet going across the carpeted living room towards the bedroom. She wiped her eyes and slid off the bed. She reached her dresser just as A.J walked into the room.  
  
" Hey.... what are you doing?" He smiled charmingly and began kissing her shoulders " Im getting dressed.... why don't you go eat your breakfast, it's getting cold." She replied without emotion. As A.J stood looking puzzled she slipped out of her slip and into some ripped flare blue jeans, a white t-shirt and her tennis shoes. She exited the room without a word and leaving him to ponder what had just happened. That night eight o'clock rolled around and A.J was heading out.  
  
"Where are you going?" Grace asked very sternly. " Im going out to meet the guys....why?" " No reason it's just..... you went out last night to meet wi..... wait you went out at exactly eight last night too!" Her eyes began to tear as she motioned for him to go. He left and she listened to him get in his car and drive away. Tears started to flow down her cheeks uncontrollably, she had just sent her husband to the arms of another woman. Was she crazy? What should she do? Who was this girl? So many questions raced through her head all at once. But she simply settled for a bubble bath and an early bed time.  
  
For four days everything about A.J annoyed Grace. She couldn't stand the way he chewed with his mouth open sometimes, or the way he would rub his stomach when he was hungry, the way he rubbed his head and scratched his chin when he was thinking.... everything was so annoying that she couldn't take it. She couldn't take his habits or the fact that she didn't know who her husband was sneaking off to see four times a week. So one day she decided to get some advice. She visited her best friend Angela who only lived one mile away.  
  
"Angie can I ask you a question?" Grace asked as she took a seat on the suede coach " What's that dollface?" Angela was busying herself with cooking a large meal for her large family " What would you do if you found out Eddy was cheating on you? I mean would you try and find out who he's with..... or what?" Angela looked up her mouth slightly open at the fact that her bestfriend was being two timed. " Truthfully? Well I'd find out who the girl was and confront him as I dragged her by the hair into the house. Then I'd kick both of their asses and kick his no good, lying, two timing butt out!" Angela slammed her wooden spoon on her counter and took a seat next to Grace who was now trying to hide her tears by laughing. "Gracey...... don't let that scum make you cry" Angela kissed Grace's forehead and hugged her as she bawled for fifteen minutes. " Hey Angie...." Grace wiped her eyes and looked adoringly up at Angela " Thanks , I think I know what I'll do....yeah yeah I've got it!" Grace jumped up and bounded for the door. 


	3. The Journal

Grace raced home as her anger grew and raged in her head. She reached her front door and checked to make sure A.J wasn't home. Then she went to her bedroom and threw herself onto her bed. She then pulled out a large shoebox that was hidden skillfully behind the emergency cash fund and piles of A.J's dirty socks ( hey...no one said he was neat). She threw the lid to the side as she quickly shuffled through the box that was brimming with things from stationary to pictures to mini-beanie babies. Her eyes transfixed on a book that was carefully wrapped in a blood red velvet bag that was closed with two gold ropes that were tied neatly into a bow. She quickly unwrapped the bag and held the book in her hands. She brushed through the pages quickly until she found the page she was looking for. Suddenly the book was tossed roughly to the side as Grace bounded for the trick floorboard under A.J's desk.  
  
Grace's hands gently felt the smooth floor until she could jerk it in different directions. The floor board lifted out of its spot to reveal a large black leather journal which had A.J's initials stitched across the cover. She flipped the large book open and flipped through the pages to the last entry date. It was the date that the woman came to her home ( Monday...it was Thursday). It read in A.J's sloppy chicken scratch the following: "Today was a good day. I finally got Mark to pay up all that cash he owes me and I met up with girly girl.But that dumb girl came to my house!! I could've slapped her. Grace was in the other room.... I could've gotten caught. O well....atleast she's worth the risk sometimes. " suddenly there was a slam and the sound of feet in the entrance hallway. Grace chucked the journal back into the floor and quickly covered it. She jumped into the desk chair and opened the solitaire file.  
  
"Hey baby!" A.J's innocent looking face popped into the doorway as he leisurely leaned on the wall and smiled at Grace. "Hi....how was poker?" Grace tried to keep her temper under control faced with her lying husband. " It was all right. But I won't be able to pay the bills with what I made.Hahahaha" He chuckled heartily as he started walking to the kitchen.  
  
Grace jumped up and walked back to the bedroom where she began putting everything back together and back under the bed. Her mind raced as she re-thought the little information that she had collected. She knew he was cheating but just had to know who he was messing with. She started going over the possible suspects until she became frustrated and made her way to the kitchen to have a drink A.J entered the room rubbing his stomach and looking very stupid with his shirt half untucked and his ugly sweats making strange scratchy noises as he walked up to her. His old flannel shirt rubbed against her skin as his gruff voice started asking about dinner. She simply pushed him off and picked up the phone to dial for pizza.Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Grace rushed to open it. But she was disappointed to see Mark...A.J's bestfriend in town. She let him in and flounced onto the couch disgusted by the man who was in the next room. 


	4. Caught

(That night)  
  
The house was pitch black without a sound in the house except for the crickets outside the bedroom window. Grace opened her big eyes and examined her situation; her husband was sleeping and had his arm thrown over her stomach and he held onto her by her hip. She needed to get out of bed without waking him up. Grace gently lifted his hand off of her and placed it neatly onto his own chest which he carelessly started scratching then with a huge roar of a snore he turned onto his side turning his face away from her. Grace slipped out of bed and quietly made her way towards the office and the journal.  
  
"CRASH!!SNAP!!" Grace hit the floor with a thud as she tripped over a stool that A.J must have left in the middle of the room. "Shit" her voice was hushed as she straightened herself and listened to see if he woke up. She couldn't hear anything.Her feet skidded delicately over the floor boards then she dropped down to her knees and began feeling for the loose floor board.  
  
Grace lifted,pulled, tugged and jerked at the floor board but it refused to come up. She knew this was the one but she couldn't move it. Her heart began to race. Mentally she began counting the floor boards again and again she counted tapping and listening for the hollow sound. It always stopped at the one that she couldn't pull up.Her hands felt there way to the large drawer that was just above her head. She felt the golden handle and gingerly pulled it and began rummaging through the overflowing drawer. "Ow!" she threw her hands over her mouth and listened.... nothing. She immediately looked at her finger which was bleeding.... I must have pricked it on a tack or something she thought. She put her hands once again into the drawer searching,searching. "It's got to be here. I know he has it." she listened to the sounds of little objects clanking and making quiet scratching noises. "There it is!" She pulled a large screwdriver from the drawer of trinkets. It was long with a dull silver head and shaft (tehehehe..sorry Im immature)the handle was made of worn navy blue rubber but sections were wrapped in ductape.  
  
She lowered her tool to the floor and again found the board. After a minute she finally pried it up and she quickly and quietly set both the board and the screwdriver aside. Her hands reached into the hollow hole. She felt around and finally got her hands on the leather book. She lifted it out and set it aside. She reached for the screwdriver and put it back into the drawer.She again lifted the book and held it in her hands when suddenly the lights came on.  
  
"Grace? What are you doing?" A.J's face turned from curious to furious. "THATS MINE!!!" Grace went cold as A.J charged at her grabbing roughly for the journal. Her mouth gaped as she stood in her pajamas caught stealing. " I...uhh....ummm...uhh...well you see...I..." She was abruptly interrupted "SHUT UP! You're always borrowing my things and telling me what to do and I always let you get away with treating me like a child and being weird and quiet! If I ever did anything like that you'd kill me....you've gone too far this time.....I mean my journal?! What's wrong with you?!?!" He raised his arm as if to hit her. Grace dropped to the floor and covered her face and head. He simply reached for the car keys and stormed out the door slamming it so hard the wood splintered and snapped, and Grace was left alone to go over what had just happened. 


	5. Back Again

~~~I really appreciate the reviews...Please keep them coming.All advice helps.Sorry I haven't been updating I've been sick and out of town so I'll try to catch up.~~~  
  
After what seemed like forever Grace finally lifted herself up and walked into the bedroom. She layed down and thought about if she really wanted to continue her search for the girl. Or if she wanted to even stay with A.J, how could he blow up at her like that? Was he really cheating or was she just imagining things? What happened to her seemingly happy existence? All these questions had Grace puzzled, she finally drifted off to sleep when there was a very loud banging on the door. Grace got up lazily and walked over to the door, she stopped abruptly in the hallway. It was three in the morning.... who could be banging on the door? Was it A.J? If it was and he was knocking he was probably drunk...did she want to let a crazed drunk man into her house? She tried to sound strong and forceful as the loud thumping came again only feet away. However her voice was light and crackily as she questioned the visitor "Who...who... who is it?", a calm came over her as a gentle voice answered, "This is the police, your neighbor called. She said she heard screaming and thought she heard stuff breaking. May we come in?". Grace sauntered over to the busted door and undid the locks and opened the door wide for the officers to enter.  
  
Grace reached for the light but pulled her hand back as she remembered that it had broken when A.J stormed out. She escorted a stout, old man with a thick white mustache and his pearly white hair slicked back with grease, and his partner a young, tall, muscular, man with a sincere look to him, over to the living room area. "Can I get you anything? Coffee, water, a beer....no sorry I forgot police shouldn't drink on the job." Grace went light pink as she noticed the young officer was smiling at her. "No thankyou miss."The older one stated, "We just dropped by to make sure everything was ok...but you seem to be alone." The two officers took a quick look around the room. "O, Im fine. My husband and I just had an argument...that's all." Grace kept cracking her knuckles as she always did when she was nervous. The young officer noticed her anxiety and gently put his hand on her knee, "We're here to help you miss...about this argument with your husband," The officers looked around. "It must have been one hell of an argument for the door to be busted, floorboards pulled out, lamps broken and things broken all over the floor. Are you sure you two just argued? I mean did he hit you?" Grace shoved the officer's hand away indignantly, "How dare you! No... my husband would never hit me....EVER. I think it's time for you to leave." Grace stood up and walked to the door, she swung it open as she glared at the young officer, "Good night to you officers." She slammed the door viciously and stormed to her bedroom and cried until dawn till she finally fell asleep.  
  
The days came and went and still no sign of A.J.. Not a phone call, not a letter, not a visit, he didn't even send somebody to tell her if he was ok.... nothing.Grace finally got so scared that she decided to call the police, but as she picked up the phone there was a light yet sound knocking at the door. Grace lowered the phone and strolled to the door knowing who it was because she and her friends were having a get together at around this time, she opened the door and gasped out of shock. There standing before her was A.J., but it wasn't him. His hair was matted and frizzy, he hadn't shaved all week, his clothes were dirty and stained and he was carrying a bouquet of a dozen white,red and pink roses. His beautiful eyes still shined and his caring face shone through the rest of his grimy look. "Im so sorry, I was just so shocked that you'd do that. But it doesn't matter. I lived this whole week without seeing you or hearing your angelic voice....and well it killed me. I didn't feel right, I felt like half of me was missing, I missed you so much. Please for give me." Grace watched as the man she had spent days hating was in tears at the thought of living without her another day. His strong hand handed her the flowers which she smelled lovingly and switched to her other hand so she take him by the hand in the house and clean him up. His eyes shimmered and glowed with happiness as he was led back into the house by his seemingly perfect wife. She began looking for a vase for the flowers but before she got to far A.J twirled her around and gave her the best kiss of her life. After they stopped kissing she gently squeezed his hand and walked him over to the bathroom where she drew his bath and lit candles so he could relax. She took his grimy clothes and put them in the washer. Then she picked out a pair of loose blue jeans his favorite shirt and some other things for him to where. Not long after Grace had started their make up dinner she heard A.J call for her from the tub. She walked over and opened the door and was taken by surprise as he jumped out from behind the door kissed and kissed her. Grace decided to join him in the tub and they spent the rest of the night drinking champagne, eating and making love. 


	6. Fight

Hey yall. Again I've been busy so I haven't updated but again I'll try to update more often.

By the way mecchaffe…thanx for being so honest. I really do appreciate it. : )

                                    3 months later…

"Angie I swear I m not crazy!! I mean he's always gone and when he's home he ignores me until he wants to get lucky… something is going on. I bet he's seeing that girl again! I m gonna kill him!"

 Grace's  eyebrows were arched to an extreme and her lips where pursed so tightly she could barely breathe and her face was bright blood red.

"Grace, maybe you should just talk to him… I mean confront him. Then if he doesn't prove he's innocent kick his ass out!" 

Angie was waving a wooden spoon around dangerously and so comically Grace laughed slightly.

"Thanks Angie. Look at the time he'll be getting home soon. So I'll call you later ok?" Grace hugged her best friend tightly then headed out to the car. 

For her birthday A.J had bought Grace a 2003 BMW that was midnight blue and beautiful. Grace couldn't help but smile as she got closer to the car. The night before A.J had borrowed it without permission and so she began checking for scratches or garbage in the back seat.

But instead of finding scratches, dents, or garbage she found something worse that made her stomach turn and tighten all at once. It sent goose bumps up her arms and brought an unflattering paleness to her usually bright face. Her face sunk and her eyes dullened (is that a word?). 

Grace reached into the car and out from between the back cushion and the seat she pulled a pair of pink, lacy, frilly, panties that were at least two sizes smaller than her. 

Grace's pain suddenly turned to anger, confusion and a blind rage that she had never felt before. She slammed the car door and sped home.

The entire way she thought and planned how she would beat and batter her lying, cheating, despicable husband until he cried out for mercy and told her who the girl was.

The car came to a screeching halt in front of the house. 

She stormed up the front walkway leaving the car doors wide open with the keys in the ignition. Noticing she left her keys behind… but not caring Grace lifted her leg and smashed the door open with a violent kick.

It swung open, almost off the hinges!

"A.J.!!!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" A.J walked in the room looking only slightly interested until he saw the front door.

"Hey, what happened to the door? Damn it… I swear Grace this is what happens when you're forgiving with those neighbor kids. Look what they…what's wrong?"

A.J had finally taken notice that his wife was clenching and unclenching her fists while biting her bottom lip with enough force to draw blood.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?! As if you didn't know you lying, scheming, little SHIT! You lied…you lied to me… AGAIN! Don't give me that look. I found her underwear you stupid bastard. That's right sit down because you'll need your strength to haul all your shit to the CURB!"

Grace hurled the now balled up piece of underwear at her husbands face, walked over to his side, and smacked him with such force that he felt like his eyeball was going to pop out of the socket.

"Baby I…I… I'm sorry." A.J looked at his feet then slickly tried to pull Grace into him so he could kiss her. She simply smacked him again and knocked him on his butt. He stood up absolutely furious.

"You want me gone well FINE…but I'm taking the car. You know you never had it as good as you had it with me with anybody. We both know that."

Grace smirked and gave a wry laugh. "O baby your right…I'm nothing without you. Well you want the car you can have it." Grace shoved past A.J and grabbed her aluminum baseball bat from the front hall closet.

She began bashing and smashing the car to shards. Glass was everywhere and there were so many dents and craters in the car it looked more like the moon than a BMW.

A.J ran frantically out to the car snatching the bat from his wife who was screaming about betrayal and how she hated him. As he drove off she kicked the bumper and threw a rock through the back window. 

Then she sat down where she was in the middle of the street and cried. She cried for a lot of things. She cried because of her car, her husband, her marriage, her life but mostly because now she had no way of finding out who the hell this home-wrecking bitch was. 

But right then and there Grace swore to herself that she'd find out who this girl was. She stood up brushed herself off and headed inside to make dinner, she knew that A.J told his friends everything. So one of them had to know… all she needed was his address book to start the man hunt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Chappie~~~~~

Well thank you for tuning into another episode of As The World Turns. I know Grace goes a little psychotic but I was just trying to think of what I'd do. Well please give me some feedback… Toodles.

Da Shibster : )


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